I posted a short sample of some BTS footage with a Glidecam HD4000 Stabilizer about a week ago. The reference to this project can be found here: http://cheesycam.com/3-canon-60ds-music-video/. There were some weird movements and I even flipped the Glidecam upside down. (I don’t recommend doing this, but I do it all the time). Some people were asking if the footage was actually usable. I’ll leave that up to the editors to decide if a few seconds of this footage would be used, but here’s some side by side samples.

On the left is the movement of the Glidecam HD4000 Stabilizer on a Steadicam Merlin Stabilizer Arm and Vest with a Canon EOS 60D flying. On the right is an uncut look at what this RAW footage will look like. Again, we’ll just be looking at quick cuts and a few seconds here and there. We’ll be mixing it up with other hand held, Crane shots, dolly / slider shots, as well as very static Tripod shots. From what I understand, this music video will be cut in with actual footage from a new movie being released soon. So the movie will be more of the narration and we’ll just be highlighting the band periodically. BTW, this is not my usual flying setup and I just rented this lens. So without practicing on this setup, these are the results I got.

Love the shots when you pass the singer, and the shot when you go in between the singer/guitar player to get closer on drummer. Those are the shots I’d use if I were editing. Great all the way around non the less. Very smooth. Thanks for this post.

Great shooting Emm. The 60D shots look great! How do you think it stacks up against the 7D in terms of image quality, rolling shutter etc. I know many have said that the T2i and 7D have pretty much the same look, but Phillip Bloom says that the 7D is a touch better for some unknown reason. What are your thoughts?

I normally load it up to the max. I think it fly’s better and more stable. I use a DSLR + Battery Grip + LED Light + Microphone + Zoom H4n. All of that equates to more ‘counter balance’ weights too, so it gets real heavy, but I find it’s more smooth for me. Even though I don’t always use all those items, the weight helps. I’d rather use these accessories than just plain weight blocks, so if I need better lighting or audio it’s already on board and balanced for it.

How does the image stay in perfect focus the whole time? (the camera op appears to pay no attention to the focus ring)

Is it just because the aperture was at 6.3? If you had the aperture wide open (say if the location was darker), would an image like that, constantly in focus without any adjustment, essentially be impossible?

It stays in focus because it is a super wide lens and the depth of field is extremely large…for example a 10-20mm wide at its widest settings will be in focus from 17″ in front of the lens to at least 20 feet from that point…perhaps to infinity but I can’t remember if that’s right.

How are you getting the Glidecam to work with a Steadicam vest? Are they cross compatible, or did you make some adjustments to the post? Considering the price of just the arm and the vest, I am considering getting one now.

@Chris – Put simply, Aperture controls how much is in focus. The bigger that number, the more of the scene will be in focus. It helps to have a 10-22mm wide lens + aperture of F/6.3 to get stuff in focus. This is why I normally fly wide lenses when i’m doing Glidecam / Steadicam stuff.

@Emm thanks for the response. So did you just set your focal length to infinity and shoot at F6.3? I have a Canon 16-35 F/2.8 that I normally shoot with, which I hope should be wide enough for what we do.

I’m getting a bit of pendulum swing with 60D and HD-4000. Everything seems balanced. Got one counter weight on each side of the sled. No battery grip or other accessories, just a Manfrotto 577 QR. Have extended the post a little more and drop time is about 2.5 seconds. Is this just down to the control hand having to counteract the pendulum swing?

this is a great site, very helpful.
can anyone help me to find an affordable/durable 12 feet camera jib crane… I’m thinking to get one soon. I know there ProAm jibs there, is there anything better or cheaper available?

I just want to enlight that this is not just about having great gear, you’re really a great operator, and people who hired steadicam operators or have tried to use any kind of stabilizer would know that

Just like when you do great photography and people tell you “and your camera take amazing pictures !” !!
Sure, give them the camera, especially in manual mode, and see how they manage to take “amazing pictures”

Same for the steadicam… without lot of practice, motivation, and skills… it’s useless